~ Author Stephanie Lawton

Exciting things! Exclamation points! Holy crap!

I just handed in a revised draft of Want to my editor, so now I can breathe again and tell you all the exciting things that have been happening!

First, like I just said, I have an editor! We’ll be working together for the next couple months to get Want all shiny and ready for publication. Her name is Melissa Keir and she’s a teacher and writer, as well.

Just this week I was introduced to my publicist (hah!) Majanka Verstraete. She unveiled an outline of our publicity plan and I can tell we’re going to have a lot of fun working together. (I’m also getting help from my “ninja publicist” but I’m not allowed to talk about that!) Suffice it to say there will be local, national and international exposure. 🙂

I’ve corresponded with a few of my fellow Inkspell authors and it seems like we have a nice group going.

We’re connected by our fearless leader, Shilpa Mudiganti, who is a real sweetheart and a trooper for patiently answering my million questions.

One of the scarier aspects of this whole process popped up this week. A former co-worker sent me a message that said, “I was talking about you at work … ” O_O Now, it’s bad enough to know that my entire family (and by that I mean the one I was born into and the one I married into) will be reading my book. But former co-workers, former college classmates, perhaps former English professors, ex-boyfriends … OH GOD.

I think I’ll be able to handle criticism from anonymous readers and online acquaintances, but people I actually know? Um, I may never go “home” again. 🙂

This is super exciting news, Stephanie. No matter what people you know say, keep in mind, you have do something so kick-ass: got published! They don’t have a leg to stand on in comparison. Pat yourself on the back and then invite others to do the same. 🙂